TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A seven-member search team from Turkey specialized in the use of drones will arrive in Taiwan Saturday (April 6) evening, according to Interior Minister Lin Yu-chang (林右昌).

The group’s main mission will be to find survivors of the quake in the Taroko Gorge area of Hualien County, where several people were still missing three days after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake. The death toll has reached 10, with more than 1,000 injured, more than 600 trapped, and nine missing.

At his daily briefing Saturday, Lin was asked why, of the several countries offering assistance to Taiwan, only Turkey had been approved. The minister said the Turkish team possessed advanced experience in the use of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to find people buried under earthquake rubble, per Radio Taiwan International (RTI).

The group will purchase thermal imaging equipment and optical cameras after they arrive in Taiwan on Saturday evening. They will then affix the new equipment to their UAVs and join the effort to find people who disappeared along Highway No. 8, part of the Central Cross-Island Highway between Taichung City and Taroko.

As domestic drones would be unable to carry out the task successfully, Taiwan had accepted assistance from the Turkish team, Lin said. The possibility of a second team coming in from Turkey was being discussed, he added.

Taiwan had refused assistance from other search and rescue teams, as well as aid in the form of goods, as the country has a sufficient supply of its own. Only donations are being accepted from overseas, according to Lin.